Practice Reading Comprehension Passage from “The Economist” Magazine:
Dear Readers, We all knew that now-a-day’s most of the English questions are asked from “The Economist” Magazine, many of our followers have requested to provide Reading Comprehension and other topics from this magazine, to fulfil your requirement here we have given the Reading Comprehension Passage from “The Economist” Magazine, kindly make use of it.
Cyber-security (Spyware that can identify what films you are watching)
REMEMBER that racy film you probably should not have enjoyed on Netflix last weekend? Eran Tromer’s algorithms can tell what it was. Although videos streamed from services such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube are encrypted in various ways to ensure privacy, all have one thing in common: they leak information. Dr Tromer, of Tel Aviv university, his colleague Roei Schuster and Vitaly Shmatikov of Cornell have worked out how those leaks can identify the film you are watching—even if they cannot directly observe the stream of bits delivering it, or obtain access to the device on which you are watching it.
Videos streamed over the internet are usually transmitted using a standard called MPEG-DASH. This chops a data stream up into segments that are then encrypted and fetched one at a time by the machine playing the video. The result is an on-off, “bursty” pattern of data arrival. But not all segments are equal. One depicting the mating habits of sloths will contain less information than another showing a car chase. Streaming services use something called variable bit-rate (VBR) compression to take advantage of this. Amorous-sloth segments are compressed to a greater degree than those involving car chases, reducing the overall amount of data that must be transmitted. That means segments of the same duration (in seconds) have different sizes (in bytes). The resulting pattern forms a video fingerprint.
Dr Tromer’s method recognises this fingerprint by comparing it with a pre-assembled library of such prints that a snooper has made from videos the viewership of which he might want to follow. The detection algorithm involved is a version of a program called a neural network, a type of software adept at signal-recognition tasks. Once trained, Dr Tromer’s neural network can identify films with up to 99% accuracy, based on a fingerprint between one and five minutes long.
The cleverest part, though, is that, unlike other efforts to exploit leaky video streams, it does not actually need direct access to the stream itself, or even to the device the video is being shown on. By planting a small amount of JavaScript code in a web browser on a personal computer or smart phone that is merely attached to the same Wi-Fi network as the viewer’s device, the film being watched can be identified with almost the same accuracy.
Web browsers confine JavaScript—which is ubiquitous in web pages and advertisements, and runs automatically—to a “sandbox” supposed to prevent it from collecting private information. JavaScript code can, however, still communicate with the computer server that sent it—and this is enough for Dr Tromer. It enables his implant to flood the entire Wi-Fi network with random data, creating congestion. The result is that a video stream feeding another device on the network will create bursty delays in the JavaScript’s communications with its own server. Measuring these is enough for the spyware to be able to identify the film being watched.
Such information can reveal a lot about a viewer’s personality, preferences, politics and so forth. As Dr Tromer notes, by being able to monitor this, “I can show personalised ads based on your viewing habits, adjust your insurance premiums or send in the Spanish Inquisition.” That last suggestion, tongue-in-cheek though it may be, is the most troubling. Censors using his technique could spot and block the viewing of things they disapproved of, no matter how highly encrypted those things were.
At the moment, there is no practical way to derail such attacks. Eliminating VBR would increase network congestion, bringing data-buffers into play to deal with information overflow and underflow. That would translate, for viewers, into the resurrection of buffering messages, now largely a thing of the past.
In most countries, placing this sort of spyware on a machine without permission would be illegal. But its ability to spy remotely might get around that. Also, blanket permissions associated with installing new software, carelessly agreed to, might see it arrive on clueless users’ machines within the letter, if not the spirit of the law. Mind how you go, then. And watch what you watch.
1). Which is the most appropriate title?
a) Security with help of JavaScript
b) Computer security and Technology improvement
c) Cyber-security - Spyware that can identify what films you are watching
d) JavaScript and Spyware
e) None of these
2). According to the paragraph, which of the following is used to reduce the overall amount of data to be transmitted?
a) JavaScript
b) Video streaming
c) Variable bit-rate
d) Amorous-sloth segments
e) None of these
3). Which of the following is false in context of the passage?
a) The detection algorithm involved is a version of a program called a neural network, a type of software adept at signal-recognition tasks.
b) Websites confine JavaScript—which is ubiquitous in web pages and advertisements, and runs automatically—to a “sandbox” supposed to prevent it from collecting private information.
c) Eliminating VBR increases network congestion and bring data-buffers into play to deal with information overflow and underflow.
d) Dr Tromer’s neural network can identify films with up to 99% accuracy, based on a fingerprint between one and five minutes long.
e) All of them are true
4). According to the paragraph, which of the following is done by placing a small amount of JavaScript code in web browser?
a) The technique merely attached to the same Wi-Fi network as the viewer’s device.
b) The network will create bursty delays in the JavaScript.
c) This technique could spot and block the viewing of things.
d) It is a type of software adept at signal-recognition tasks.
e) It communicates with the computer server that sent it.
5. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct about ‘VBR’ according to passage?
(i) Containing VBR would increase network congestion.
(ii) Streaming services employs VBR.
(iii) Used in translation of resurrection of buffering messages.
a) Only (i) is correct
b) Only (ii) is correct
c) Both (i) and (iii) are correct
d) All are correct
e) Both (ii) and (iii) are correct
6). Choose the option which is most similar in meaning to the “tongue-in-cheek”as used in the passage.
a) A way of asking what someone is thinking
b) Speaking in an ironic way
c) Very different from
d) Examining something carefully
e) Waiting for an opportunity
Directions (7-8): Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.
6). Exploit
a) Venture
b) Deed
c) Attainment
d) Coup
e) Desolation
7). Ubiquitous
a) Pervasive
b) Prevalent
c) Far reaching
d) Scarce
e) Extensive
Directions (9-10): Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.
a) adroit
b) clumsy
c) incompetent
d) amateur
e) Crude
10). Derail
a) Abet
b) Encourage
c) Thwart
d) Suffice
e) Expedite
1). C 2). D 3). B 4). A 5). E 6). B 7). E 8). D 9). A 10). C
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